News and Knowledge

Many people with autism need help from others to complete tasks at work, in school, or even during play.  This is because people with autism tend to have difficulty with organization, generalization, and initiation.  They are also used to more supervision and learn to be dependent on others.  When people with autism are more independent they have greater inclusion and success at school and work.  In Effects of an Individual Work System on the Independent Functioning of Students with Autism, researchers investigated the use of individual work systems to help children and adults become less dependent on prompts from others.  Individual work systems are defined as an “organizational system that provide students with visual information about what to do.”  This strategy draws on the visual strengths of people with autism to increase independence.  The study found that appropriate play without adult prompting increased in children and work completed independently and accurately increased in an older student.

In a second article, Implementing Work Systems across the School Day: Increasing Engagement in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, researchers presented step by step methods for implementing work systems.

As this study explains, a complete work system answers four questions visually:

1.       What is the individual is supposed to complete?

2.      How much is needed to be completed during an activity or how long will the activity last?

3.      How will the individual know that progress is being made and when is the activity finished?

4.      What happens next after the activity is finished?

The following 6 steps were presented to put individual work systems into action:

1.       Find the tasks that cause difficulties for the student.  This could be academic work, social activities, or even free time.  The task should be one the student knows how to complete but does not complete without supervision and prompting.

2.      Figure out the kind of system that works best for the student.  One type that frequently works is a “left-to-right work system.”  The tasks that need to be completed are placed on the left and moved to the right when completed.  Another system is a “matching work system.”  The tasks are presented as a series of pictures that can be matched to containers holding the tasks.  A final system is a “list work system.”  This is a top-to-bottom list using pictures or words with the tasks that need completion.

3.      Establish how the student will know when a task is finished.  This could be moving the task to a completion basket or area.  It could also be crossing off the task on the list.

4.      State what happens when the task is finished.  A picture, object, or words need to show what the student is to do next.  This can be as simple as showing the next activity on a schedule.

5.      Teach the student how to use the work system.  You may need to provide verbal, visual, and physical prompts.  Once the student understands how to use the work system they can do so independently.

6.      Use the work system and collect data on student performance.  Reviewing the data can show if the system is working and what aspects could be tweaked to work better.

Individual work systems are easy to implement in a classroom or at home with chores.  They cost little to nothing to implement and are shown to increase independence.  When an individual with autism uses a work system they self-regulate and complete tasks without constant adult presence allowing more time for the teacher to work with other students or for caregivers to complete other tasks.

Hume, Kara and Sam Odom. (2007). Effects of an individual work system on the independent functioning of students with autism.  Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1166-1180.

Hume, Kara and Beth Reynolds. (2010). Implementing Work Systems across the School Day: Increasing Engagement in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.  Preventing School Failure, 54 (4), 228-237.